How to fix Android’s Smart Lock Trusted Places feature

Android’s Smart Lock feature is spectacular — that is, when it actually works.

Smart Lock has been around since 2014’s Android 5.0 era. The basic idea behind it is to make securing your smartphone less inconvenient, thus making it more likely that you’ll actually use a pattern, PIN, or passcode to keep your data safe. The sensational headlines about big, bad malware monsters lurking in the dark and waiting to pounce on unsuspecting victims may be scary, after all — but here in the real world, you’re far more likely to suffer from your own self-made security shortcomings than from any sort of theoretical threat.